Improv, Community, and the Power of Showing Up!

This month, I had the chance to facilitate 3 weeks of our virtual Improv for Brain Health class, and an in-person Improv for Brain Health workshop.

Our Improv for Brain Health program has been running for 6 years in partnership with the BC Brain Wellness Program. The weekly, online, drop-in class is currently led by Brent Hirose and Taylor Montalbetti. The program intends to help participants cope with the anxiety and fear of living with compromised brain health by practicing being in the moment & releasing expectations through improv.

Some of the participants have been a part of this class since its inception, and it shows! What always strikes me when I visit the weekly virtual class, is how connected it feels. Some participants have known each other for years, and they are equally as welcoming to newcomers. Through weekly classes, a strong community has formed. This is a community that loves to make each other laugh, and have welcomed improv into their lives. After each class, there is consistently a significant improvement in the group’s mood from the start of class to the end of class.

Conversely, the in-person workshop consisted of almost all new participants. Most of them had never met one another before, and most of them had never tried improv before. Yet, they tried every game and exercise we offered and the room was quickly loosened up with laughter. As we laughed through the exercises, the room became more comfortable with us and with one another, and they shared meaningful reflections about the application of improv to life.

Whether it’s for an existing community that you know well, or a brand new group of people you don’t know at all, these Improv for Brain Health classes demonstrate the power of showing up as you are and giving it a go. Or, as The BC Brain Wellness Program describes their inspiration for the program, it’s “The determination and courage of patients to live their best life, no matter their clinical diagnosis.”

Written by Rosemary Morrison, Improv for Wellness Manager